Greg Schiano will not get the head-coaching job at Tennessee. Indeed, he may never again get a top-level head-coaching job.
When word leaked on Sunday afternoon that Schiano, Ohio State’s defensive coordinator and a former head coach at the college and professional level, would replace the fired Butch Jones, a vocal contingent of Tennessee’s fan base immediately voiced strong objections. So strong that by Sunday night the deal was off. The objections were based on Schiano’s connection to the Penn State child-sex-abuse scandal. Schiano worked for Penn State head coach Joe Paterno from 1990 to 1995: as defensive backs coach, he worked directly under convicted child molester and rapist Jerry Sandusky.
In October 2011, recall, the former defensive coordinator of the Penn State Nittany Lions, Sandusky, was convicted of 45 counts of sexual abuse of minors. University president Graham Spanier, athletic director Tim Curley, vice president Gary Schultz, and Paterno all lost their jobs as a consequence of the scandal. Paterno died of lung cancer just two months later. Curley and Schultz pled guilty to misdemeanor charges of child endangerment to avoid conspiracy charges; Spanier was found not guilty of conspiracy but guilty of child endangerment. An independent investigation of the Penn State program, conducted by former FBI director Louis Freeh, issued an unsparing report. “The most saddening finding by the Special Investigative Counsel,” it concluded, “is the total and consistent disregard by the most senior leaders at Penn State for the safety and welfare of Sandusky’s child victims.”
Schiano denies having any knowledge of the Penn State scandal, but a deposition from a former Nittany Lions assistant coach indicated that, according to another coach, Schiano once said he’d seen “Jerry doing something to a boy in the shower.” Maybe he knew nothing about any of it. Maybe he knew nothing at all about the gruesome system of child exploitation Sandusky operated or the way Sandusky groomed and manipulated his victims through a nonprofit for underprivileged youth. Maybe the deposition’s statement to the contrary is just wrong. That’s possible.
Whatever Schiano knew or didn’t know, he’s now enduring at least some significant consequence for his association with the Penn State program. His excellent record as head coach at Rutgers notwithstanding, he will not get one of the most coveted positions in college sports: the top football job at a Southeastern Conference university.
The Penn State football program, by contrast—the program that covered up Sandusky’s crimes for three decades or more—has suffered few consequences for enabling decades of abuse. The NCAA did not cancel Penn State’s football program or even suspend it for one or more years. Instead, in June of 2012, the NCAA barred the team from postseason play for four years—a penalty it rescinded after just two years. The school’s football scholarships, mostly revoked in 2012, were all given back by 2015. PSU’s wins from 1998 to 2012 were revoked, stripping Paterno of 111 victories. But those wins were restored in 2015, and he is acknowledged by the NCAA as the winningest coach in the top level of collegiate football.
The university was required to pay a $60 million fine, but that’s hardly a crippling penalty for a popular institution with wealthy boosters and a built-in source of revenue (also known as tuition and fees). A campus statue of Paterno was finally removed in July 2012, but only after persistent public complaints. Such punishments are as nothing for a program that kept silent about decades-long child molestation scheme. And the school community shows little remorse. Paterno’s son Jay, himself a former Penn State assistant football coach, was elected to the board of trustees this year by alumni, suggesting that all that matters is his father’s 409 wins.
The Nittany Lions had a terrific season this year: 10 wins against 2 losses. The team is bound for a major bowl game. Greg Schiano is not being punished. But such is the NCAA’s reluctance to impose any serious consequences on a moneymaking powerhouse like Penn State University. Giant crowds, massive programs, and lucrative television contracts easily trump justice and ruined lives.
The Sandusky era ended in 2011, but it seems long ago—almost as if it never happened.
